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WORK TITLE: The Waking Land
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://calliebates.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, musician, artist, and certified harp therapist.
AVOCATIONS:Travel, hiking.
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including the Best Buddhist Writing 2012.
Contributor to print and online publications, including Shambhala Sun, All Things Girl, and various online journals.
SIDELIGHTS
Callie Bates is a writer, novelist, and harpist who often works in therapeutic settings. “I play the folk harp, and I’m also a certified harp therapist, trained to play one-on-one or in group settings at hospitals, nursing homes, and the like, to facilitate the healing process,” Bates stated in an interview with Elizabeth Caulfield Felt on the Elizabeth Caulfield Felt Website. She describes herself as an outdoors enthusiast and told Felt, “I love to travel, too; many of my better story ideas come to me while I’m ambling around somewhere new. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, studied creative writing in college, and stubbornly persisted until I had a book ready to go out into the world.”
That book, The Waking Land, is Bates’s debut novel. The book might not have come about if not for the powerful pull that the main character had on Bates’s imagination. “I was going to put [the book] away, but the heroine’s voice kept me awake at night, demanding I write it again. So I did!,” Bates told Kate Brandes in an interview on the website ’17 Scribes.
Elanna Valtai, the protagonist of The Waking Land, is the daughter of the Duke of Caeris. Even as a young child, Elanna possessed strange powers she did not understand. She “can make flowers sprout from seeds in her hands and specters rise from ancient stones,” noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor, but she must keep her powers secret. Magic has been outlawed for more than two centuries, ever since Caeris and the neighboring Eren were conquered by the empire of Paladis.
When she was five years old, Elanna looked on helplessly as her father’s enemy, King Antoine, attacked her household, accusing the duke of plotting rebellion. After seeing her nurse murdered in front of her, Elanna is terrified that the king will also kill her father. However, Antoine admits that there is little concrete evidence against the duke. Instead of killing him, but to prevent any more plots of revolt, King Antoine takes Elanna as a permanent hostage. As long as the duke remains loyal, Antoine promises, Elanna will be treated well.
King Antoine is true to his word, and young Elanna is accepted into his household. Over the years, she is treated more like a daughter than a captive, and she comes to love and respect Antoine as a father. He, in turn, has fatherly affections for her. Throughout her childhood and early adolescence, Elanna has also continued to ponder her magical powers, recognizing a particular kinship with plants and the natural world. She has kept her abilities hidden but has gone on secret yearly pilgrimages to a stone circle where she communes with the spirits.
Now nineteen years old, Elanna has become caught up in a deadly political plot that finds her accused of murdering the king by poisoning him. Appalled by the accusation, she is nonetheless placed in a situation where she must flee the only real home she’s ever known and return to her family in Caeris. There, she will find herself surrounded by family who might as well be strangers, with motives she cannot understand and with enmity against a king and kingdom she has come to accept as her own. With her powers as strong as ever, she must also learn to control them with greater precision as she moves toward an expected role associated with a birthright she had never known about before. Then, with that knowledge, she must lead a rebellion against the very kingdom to which she once pledged her loyalty,” noted a reviewer on the website BiblioSanctum.
“This superior novel blends passionate romance and sweeping magic,” commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Throughout the novel, the Publishers Weekly contributor observed, Bates displays a “delicate, precise touch with human and superhuman relationships.” The BiblioSanctum reviewer remarked, “A strong protagonist, an entertaining plot, and a well-crafted world are all reasons why this would make a great pick for any fantasy reader, especially if you enjoy a dash of enchantment and magic.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2017, review of The Waking Land.
Publishers Weekly, March 20, 2017, review of The Waking Land.
ONLINE
BiblioSanctum, http://www.bibliosanctum.com/ (June 27, 2017), review of The Waking Land.
Callie Bates Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/calliebywords (November 5, 2017).
Callie Bates Instagram Page, https://www.instagram.com/callie_bates/ (November 5, 2017).
Callie Bates Twitter Page, https://twitter.com/calliebywords (November 5, 2017).
Callie Bates Website, http://www.calliebates.com (November 5, 2017).
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt Website, http://www.elizabethcaulfieldfelt.com/ (June 21, 2017), author interview.
Fantasy Book Cafe, http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/ (July 5, 2017), review of The Waking Land.
Omnivoracious, http://ww.omnivoracious.com/ (July 27, 2017), Adrian Liang, “Callie Bates on Nature, Magic, and The Waking Land.“
’17 Scribes Website, http://www.17scribes.com/ (June 13, 2017), Kate Brandes, interview with Callie Bates.
Story Sanctuary, http://www.thestorysanctuary.com/ (August 17, 2017), Kasey Giard, review of The Waking Land.
Series
Waking Land
1. The Waking Land (2017)
2. The Memory of Fire (2018)
Callie Bates is a writer, harpist and certified harp therapist, sometimes artist, and nature nerd. When she’s not creating, she’s hitting the trails or streets and exploring new places. She lives in the Upper Midwest. The Waking Land is her debut fantasy novel.
Author Interview: Callie Bates
June 21, 2017 elizabethcaulfieldfelt author, books, environment, fantasy, interview, Nature, reading, travel, Wisconsin, writing
Today I welcome Callie Bates to my series of author interviews. Callie is the author of the soon-to-be-released The Waking Land, a young adult-crossover fantasy novel. Her book release party will be in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, on June 27th at the North Lakeland Discovery Center. I was lucky enough to read parts of The Waking Land in a critique group a few years ago and was not at all surprised when Callie sold the book to Del Rey Books. I’m so excited to read the whole story!
Elizabeth: Callie, welcome! Can you tell my readers about The Waking Land?
Callie: Thank you so much for having me! The Waking Land is about a young woman who’s raised as a hostage for her father’s failed rebellion—but when she’s framed for murdering the king, she has to go on the run. Meanwhile, she struggles to understand her repressed, forbidden nature magic. Basically, it has intrigue, romance, revolution and, hopefully, lots of fun!
Elizabeth: How did the first idea of the story come to you?
Callie: I’ve been tinkering with Elanna’s character for years, and she has evolved enormously over that time! I wanted to write a story about a girl forcibly raised away from her home, but who still possesses a deep and undeniable connection to the land and people she comes from—and who, at the same time, is determined to forge her own identity. But, because I didn’t really know what I was doing, it wasn’t until after I wrote a rather long and rather awful multi-point-of-view manuscript that I realized she could have a solo story in her own right. And that I might even be able to figure out how to write an ending for that!
Elizabeth: In what ways is Elanna like you and in what ways is she different?
Callie: We are both stubborn and snarky! However, Elanna is infinitely more hotheaded than I am, has PTSD from childhood trauma, and is much more attached to her perceived truths. (In case anyone wonders: I do not have Stockholm Syndrome!)
Elizabeth: How has living in the Northwoods of Wisconsin influenced this story?
Callie: If I gave Elanna anything of myself, it’s my love of the natural world. I’m deeply rooted in the place where I live. Here, trees outnumber people, and it’s easy to see the land as a character in its own right. I have always been baffled by people who put human needs before the needs of the environment, especially in the era of climate change, instead of seeing us as an interdependent whole. Elanna’s magic is an attempt to unite the experience of being human with the living experience of the land itself.
Elizabeth: How did you get your agent, and how long did it take you to get published?
Callie: Quite simply, I cold queried, and I’m here to tell you that it does work! My agent asked to see a revision of The Waking Land in 2014 and, because I am nothing if not thorough, I took my time and completely rewrote the manuscript in a different voice and tense. Fortunately, she loved it and offered representation. That was in early 2015; we sold the manuscript a few months later. So, it’s been 3 or 4 years since I first wrote this book. However, since I’ve been wanting to publish since I was 11, you could say it’s taken me almost 20 years to get there!
Elizabeth: Congratulations! I am shocked that a cold query worked! Good for you! Can you tell us a little about your writing process?
Callie: I draft by hand in a notebook, then move on to working in Scrivener and Word. My drafts are often too short and skimp on some important moments, so I am often adding word count even in late edits. (Which is not what most writers recommend, but it seems to be how I roll.)
Elizabeth: What are you working on now?
Callie: I’m just finishing up the second book in the trilogy, The Memory of Fire! It jumps to a new narrator—and, for the most part, a new part of the world—though I can’t say too much without giving spoilers for The Waking Land…
Elizabeth: What book(s) have you read recently that you feel passionate about?
Callie: I’m currently reading two I love—The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, which is a wonderful middle grade fantasy, and A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab, which is the culmination of an epic trilogy. I highly recommend both!
Elizabeth: I love The Girl Who Drank the Moon! I’ll put A Conjuring of Light on my TBR list. Tell us more about yourself.
Callie: Aside from writing, I’m also an occasional harpist. I play the folk harp, and I’m also a certified harp therapist, trained to play one-on-one or in group settings at hospitals, nursing homes, and the like, to facilitate the healing process. Unsurprisingly, I’m an outdoor enthusiast. I love to travel, too; many of my better story ideas come to me while I’m ambling around somewhere new. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, studied creative writing in college, and stubbornly persisted until I had a book ready to go out into the world.
We’ve now reached the time in our interview for the let’s-get-to-know-the-author-better, nearly-pointless, sort-of-silly, rapid-fire questions:
Elizabeth: Pizza or salad?
Callie: Pizza!
Elizabeth: Coffee or tea?
Callie: TEA. Black, milk, no sugar.
Elizabeth: Ocean or mountain?
Callie: Both?
Elizabeth: Tree house or doll house?
Callie: Tree house!
Elizabeth: Violin or piano?
Callie: Violin!
Elizabeth: Darcy or Heathcliff?
Callie: Darcy…but Heathcliff is more exciting…
Elizabeth: Love scene or death scene?
Callie: Loooooove scene!
Learn more about Callie from her social media sites:
Website: calliebates.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/calliebywords
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calliebywords
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15986018.Callie_Bates
Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/calliebates
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callie_bates/
You can pre-order / buy a copy of The Waking Land here:
Barnes & Noble
Penguin Random House
Amazon
Amazon UK
June 13, 2017 by katebrandes
Interview with Callie Bates, Author of The Waking Land
We’re so excited today to be talking with Callie Bates about her upcoming debut novel, The Waking Land.
Please describe what your book is about.
THE WAKING LAND is about a young woman, raised as a hostage, who is pressured by the father she barely remembers to lead a rebellion against the king who virtually raised her, using a magic she’s spent her life repressing.
Share a teaser sentence or two from your novel.
“The plants sit about me in their pots, a collision of greens; if I listen hard I can hear them breathing, hear the sturdy effort of drinking sunlight.”
What do you want people to know about your book?
That it has powerful, earthy, forbidden magic and daring escapes and ancient stone circles and revolution. That I was going to put it away, but the heroine’s voice kept me awake at night, demanding I write it again. So I did!
What did you learn about yourself while writing this novel?
I learned that I am very, very stubborn. OK, to be honest, that was not really a revelation…
What was your timeline from drafting to publication?
It’s going to be about four years, if you count it from the very first draft with no breaks in between. I actually wrote an initial version in 9 months in 2013, received an R&R from the agent I now work with, and eventually ended up doing a 2-3 month complete overhaul of the book (so, I didn’t work on it continuously). We accepted the publisher’s offer in spring 2015, and the book is slated to come out summer 2017.
What is your favorite part of writing (drafting characters, making up scenes, plotting, developing emotional turning points, etc). Why?
I’ve learned to really love revision. I love clarifying my ideas and themes from the rough draft, but the most satisfying moments come from really digging into the characters’ emotional arcs and evolution. As a reader, I strongly connect to emotion, so I’m trying to be more “vulnerable” as a writer. But I also have lots of fun building a pacey plot and, particularly, developing a sense of place on the page. Of course, the best part of writing is when all these elements come together—that’s the magic!
Briefly, where did the idea for your book come from?
In a very broad sense, the book emerged from the (perhaps unlikely) intersection of climate change, Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, Jacobite rebellions, and Neolithic monuments—all united by a female narrator struggling to understand her own power and place in the world. Oh, and poisonous fungi…
When do you do your best thinking about your work in progress?
I think best outside while hiking or running, or while taking a bath, or just before I fall asleep. Occasionally I have to talk aloud to myself like a crazy person. But sometimes ideas do come to me while I’m staring in mounting anxiety at my outline, thank goodness!
Share something people may be surprised to know about you?
I have the same birthday as Harry Potter. But I think I’m more of the Hermione sort of Gryffindor… Gryffinclaw, perhaps?
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever gotten?
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” That Picasso quote kicked me out of my endless loop of rather self-indulgent perfectionism (which was really tedious, btw), and continually reminds me that I don’t have to wait for “the muse” to speak. She speaks once I start working.
What’s next?
The sequel!
THE WAKING LAND
In the lush and magical tradition of Naomi Novik’s award-winning Uprooted comes this riveting debut from brilliant young writer Callie Bates—whose boundless imagination places her among the finest authors of fantasy fiction, including Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.
Lady Elanna is fiercely devoted to the king who raised her like a daughter. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Elanna is accused of his murder—and must flee for her life.
Returning to the homeland of magical legends she has forsaken, Elanna is forced to reckon with her despised, estranged father, branded a traitor long ago. Feeling a strange, deep connection to the natural world, she also must face the truth about the forces she has always denied or disdained as superstition—powers that suddenly stir within her.
But an all-too-human threat is drawing near, determined to exact vengeance. Now Elanna has no choice but to lead a rebellion against the kingdom to which she once gave her allegiance. Trapped between divided loyalties, she must summon the courage to confront a destiny that could tear her apart.
Advance Praise:
“Callie Bates has written an exciting and involving first book, and she is clearly a writer of real talent.”—Terry Brooks
“A heartbreaking, enchanting, edge-of-the-seat read that held me captive from start to finish!”—Tamora Pierce
“The Waking Land is all about rising to challenges, and it succeeds wonderfully.”—Charlaine Harris
“A simmering tale of magic that builds to a raging inferno, and hits like a cross between Brandon Sanderson and Pierce Brown.”—Scott Sigler
Available in June, 2017 from Del Rey.
Callie Bates is a writer, harpist and certified harp therapist, sometimes artist, and nature nerd. When she’s not creating, she’s hitting the trails or streets and exploring new places. She lives in the Upper Midwest. THE WAKING LAND is her debut fantasy novel and first in a planned trilogy.
She occasionally writes nonfiction. Her essays have appeared in Shambhala Sun, The Best Buddhist Writing 2012, All Things Girl and online journals.
She is represented by Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates.
Read some of her work online:
“The Purple Wig.” The original essay appeared in Shambhala Sun and was anthologized in The Best Buddhist Writing 2012. (What appears here is an excerpt, not the full essay.)
“Periodic Nightmares” in All Things Girl. (Their website is currently hacked.)
“The North Wind.” Musings on winter and why Callie is sometimes pleased when there’s still snow in April.
“The Swans at Roxleigh.” In which tragedy befalls disaffected post-WWII people at a made-up stately home in England’s Lake District. Winner of the Nick Adams Short Story Contest.
Contact Callie Bates
For rights inquiries, please contact my literary agent, Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates.
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Callie Bates on Nature, Magic, and "The Waking Land"
Adrian Liang on July 26, 2017
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Callie Bates’ debut novel, The Waking Land, sets a young woman on a path that awakens her latent powers while forcing her to confront decisions about loyalty and leadership.
With a nature focus similar to Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and a political rat’s nest as twisty as early George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire novels, The Waking Land was one of our picks for best books of the month in science fiction and fantasy in July.
We spoke with Callie Bates over drinks when she was in Seattle about The Waking Land, hacking her writing habits, and the bracing honesty of an editorial critique.
Amazon Book Review: Can you tell us about The Waking Land and how the power of nature is integral to the story?
Callie Bates: It’s about a young girl who is taken hostage for her father’s failed rebellion against the king. She’s taken hostage by the king and raised by him, but she has this nature magic that she spends her life repressing until she’s about nineteen. And then the king is murdered, using a poisonous mushroom—I had a lot of fun with fungi in the book—and she’s framed for killing him. She goes on the run and ends up being picked up by her father’s people and being brought back to her homeland, which she hasn’t seen since she was five years old, and [she is] put forth as the leader of their resurrected rebellion—which she’s very reluctant to do. So that’s the basic premise, but there is a very strong environmental theme.
I live in a very rural area, so the natural world is at my fingertips and it really colors the way I see things. It was a natural step for Elanna to have those characteristics as well. The position that she is supposed to hold is called the Steward of the Land. I was convinced that I had read about the Steward of the Land in a book by Aldo Leopold called A Sand County Almanac. He’s one of the founding environmentalists of the 20th century. I was convinced that there was this quote [about the Steward of the Land], and I wanted to use it for an epigraph in the book, and I went into A Sand County Almanac looking for it, and I could not find it. It’s one of those things where I just made it up, but what I thought I was doing fit the role that I wanted Elanna to have.
Is the power of nature something that’s been a theme in your other writing as well?
I think the natural setting has been for sure…. Come to think of it, yeah, nature magic has definitely been a theme. But this didn’t really coalesce until I was actually trying to do a much larger manuscript that was basically this book and the second book kind of mashed together. It didn’t really work. But out of that, I got these two paragraphs I wrote about Elanna nature magic. And that really gave me the idea that I could write a whole book about her journey to becoming a Steward of the Land and discovering her magic.
Is The Waking Land the first book you ever wrote, or the first book you got published?
This is the first one I got published. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, so this is the first one where I really figured out how to actually get to the ending and then go back and revise it. I revised it a number of times before I got to the right voice and storyline.
Are you in the middle of writing the second book?
I am. I’m in revisions.
Is it harder being under contract when you’re writing?
I don’t know if it’s harder; it’s just really different. I really like it because I can go to my editor and have her vet my ideas and say “This sounds like a good plan” instead of just bumbling through on my own. It’s different knowing somebody else—several somebodies—are going to read it, and I have to get it to them in a timely manner. It’s totally different.
How does it feel to get the editor’s critique?
I’d never gotten raw manuscript editorial feedback [until the second book, in revisions now]. But Anne [Groell] is so brilliant, I trust her absolutely. But it was a little traumatic, to be completely honest. But I got to the point where I was like, “She is right, and I’m so grateful for her telling me that the voice needs tweaking and emotional depth needs to be added and the pacing needs to be better.” I don’t want someone to read The Waking Land and then come into book two and be like, “What the hell? What happened?” I think that [book two] has become a much better book. But it take a while for your brain to come around and think, “I can do this.” I think the raw response is, “I can’t handle it! I don’t know what to do next!”
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Is there anything you did to change your own process as you’ve developed as a writer?
For the second book, I’ve definitely been trying to hack my own habits. One of the things that has really helped me, just in terms of approaching a manuscript, is that a couple years ago, I started writing the first draft by hand in a notebook. I’d always used computers, because I grew up with computers. But I switched to doing it by hand, and I felt like that really grounded me into the story a lot more. It was part of a tactile experience, to be inhabiting the scenes of the characters. And that might mean that I still threw a scene out, but I had at least thought things through on a deeper level. So that was really helpful.
One thing I’ve really learned is I need to know the ending and I need to at least have steps in place to get there. I don’t know if you do this, but there’s this great book called Save the Cat, and I totally use his bulletin board technique, where you take your novel and you break it down into beats. So I had all the major scenes and reveals, and I pinned them up on the bulletin board, and then I shifted them around as I thought things through. That really helped me at least get the shape of the book going in generally the right direction. So oftentimes when I’m revising, the story itself fundamentally stays the same, but how things happen changes.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? Or the opposite: a writing tsunami?
I’ve gone to bed and tried to go to sleep, and an idea, like the character voice, will not let me go to sleep, so I have gotten up in the middle of the night and written. I’m like, “OK, Muse, I surrender.”
Bates, Callie: THE WAKING LAND
(Apr. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Bates, Callie THE WAKING LAND Del Rey/Ballantine (Adult Fiction) $27.00 6, 27 ISBN: 978-0-425-28402-5
In this debut novel, a young woman must rediscover her ancient powers of earth magic to save a kingdom. Elanna Valtai can make flowers sprout from seeds in her hands and specters rise from ancient stones. But magic has been outlawed for 200 years, ever since the lands of Eren and Caeris were conquered by the foreign empire of Paladis. So El must keep concealed a power she doesn't understand. As a political hostage taken from the royal Valtai family at a young age, El has been treated kindly by her father's enemy, King Antoine, brought up as one of his daughters. But when the king is murdered and El accused, she is forced to flee and return home to a family and people she scarcely remembers. The narrative is most at home in its magical elements, where stone circles come alive with the spirits of ancestors and tree sap sings. But the characters feel thinly drawn, especially El, whose relationships with the king and his family are unconvincing, making the story's foundation feel inauthentic. And while it's a convention to borrow from reality, so much of the story is so loosely disguised it may be distracting to readers. Bates' father god of the Caerisians is a harp-playing deity called "Dagod," while Dagda is the name of a harp-playing god central to Irish myth. El's ancestors are called "the Children of Anu," while ancient Irish myth tells of The Children of Danu. The premise of the novel itself is torn from the Roman conquering of ancient Britain and the (much later) Jacobite rebellion, complete with a "Bonny Prince" Finn, come back to inspire the rebels and claim his throne. Given that Bates had such magical material to work with, her lack of depth and ingenuity is disappointing.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Bates, Callie: THE WAKING LAND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA489268593&it=r&asid=1ce0642063cfe124d9ab178c5659f7b4. Accessed 7 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A489268593
The Waking Land
264.12 (Mar. 20, 2017): p59.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
The Waking Land
Callie Bates. Del Rey, $27 (400p) ISBN 978-0-425-28402-5
This superior novel blends passionate romance and sweeping magic in the first-person, present-tense narrative of a young woman struggling with her destiny in a magical analogue of 13th-century Britain. Elanna was only five when King Antoine seized her as a hostage to stop her father from plotting revolt. She's 19 now, saturated with the attitudes of the royal court but still drawn to the ancient stone circles where the forbidden magic of her northern homeland lurks. Elanna has been taught to deny everything she is, or could be; she knows that she has a special kinship with plants and has the power to control them, but she has subsumed that into planning a career in botany. All this must change when the king is poisoned, she is accused of the murder, and she flees from smothering safety to the wild, free danger of her potential role as "steward of the land." Throughout, she is aided, tempted, and intoxicated by Lord Jahan, a conflicted sorcerer himself. Watching Elanna's gentle desires merge with the angry needs of her oppressed people is fascinating, and Bates has a delicate, precise touch with human and superhuman relationships.(July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Waking Land." Publishers Weekly, 20 Mar. 2017, p. 59+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA487601773&it=r&asid=ae72ccb27a9711e50727f375960d97c6. Accessed 7 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A487601773
Book Review: The Waking Land by Callie Bates
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1
Publisher: Del Rey (June 27, 2017)
Length: 400 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The Waking Land is a gorgeous new fantasy novel from debut author Callie Bates, and it was on my wishlist long before I had the opportunity to read it. There are just certain types of stories, while not entirely groundbreaking or new to the genre, that are just irresistible to me, and this is one of them. The book encompasses a lot of the elements I love, including a courageous heroine, an evocative magic system tied to the living earth, and a complex world built upon the political alliances and animosities between various kingdoms.
Things get off to a rather intense start, with the prologue opening on the scene of an interrupted dinner party. Our protagonist Elanna Valtai, five years old at this point, watches as her nurse is murdered in front of her eyes. Meanwhile, King Antoine and the rest of his royal guards are storming the house downstairs, putting an end to her father’s rebellion. To ensure no more attempted uprisings, Elanna’s parents are banished back to their ancestral home of Caeris, while Elanna herself is seized as a hostage, to be raised in the king’s household in Eren.
Fourteen years pass. For all that she is an outsider and the daughter of a known traitor, Elanna has been treated well by King Antoine, whom she regards and loves as a father. She has not seen her real parents since the night of the party, and Eren has become the only place she feels at home. In fact, she even has her future all planned out; once she comes of age, the king will send her off to study botany, where she will hone her gift of working with plants.
But then one day, King Antoine sickens and dies. And unfortunately, his heir Princess Loyce has never accepted Elanna, always ridiculing her for her Caerisian heritage. Worse, it has been ruled that the king died of poisoning, and being the botanical expert, Elanna is the number one suspect. With no other choice left to her, our protagonist is forced to flee back to her homeland and reunite with her estranged blood kin. It is there, however, where she discovers the truth about her birthright and the mysterious magical powers she always knew she had—and with that knowledge, she must lead a rebellion against the very kingdom to which she once pledged her loyalty.
While I realize this was not the most original plot, I didn’t care; books like The Waking Land are usually well represented in my reading repertoire despite their familiar elements, simply because I always know I’ll have a good time with them and they remind me of why I love the genre. Plus, there are certain aspects which were handled extremely well, like the world-building and magic. Under Bates’ deft touch, some of these well-known tropes are transformed into something slightly different—just enough to offer a bit of flavor without too much distraction. Take Elanna’s powers, for example. Earth magic is certainly nothing new in fantasy, but nevertheless, I enjoyed how the story introduced fresh context for it by incorporating some unique history and lore. Likewise, the conflicts between the kingdoms were interesting. After all, it’s rare to meet a heroine whose loyalties are torn in such a way, her dual roles of dutiful daughter vs. brainwashed hostage giving the political landscape a whole new dynamic.
Speaking of which, Elanna was a great character. At nineteen, she is dealing with a lot of “new adult” type problems on top of being accused of regicide, so it’s a bit of an emotional journey. The occasional moment of angst aside though, I found her to be likeable and down-to-earth (no pun intended). Undoubtedly, the author’s biggest challenge was to make Elanna’s transition from one side to the other believable, and I think for the most part Bates succeeded. Gradually, her protagonist’s eyes are opened to see beyond her upbringing, letting her take control of her own life and decide for herself what she wants to do.
In terms of criticisms, I only have a few, and none of them are deal breaking. I felt the pacing was a little off in places, especially with the amount of filler in the middle. There was also a romance plot that was emotionally flat and did little for me, its only saving grace being the fact that it probably wasn’t meant to be a big part of the story. I also wish that we’d gotten to see more of Elanna’s powers in the first half of the novel, though in all fairness, the book ultimately makes up for that with an epic magical showdown in the ending.
When all is said and done, I very much enjoyed this book. The Waking Land is not out to reinvent the wheel as far as the premise or the story goes, but I was nonetheless delighted and satisfied with the way it turned out. Callie Bates has concocted a magically captivating tale that will draw you in from the very first page, exactly the kind of fantasy novel I crave. A strong protagonist, an entertaining plot, and a well-crafted world are all reasons why this would make a great pick for any fantasy reader, especially if you enjoy a dash of enchantment and magic. The author has a bright future ahead of her, and I look forward to her next project.
Review: The Waking Land by Callie Bates
By Kasey Giard | August 17, 2017 | Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen Fiction
The Waking Land
Callie Bates
Del Rey Books
Published June 27, 2017
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
About Waking the Land
Lady Elanna Valtai is fiercely devoted to the King who raised her like a daughter. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Elanna is accused of his murder and must flee for her life.
Returning to the homeland of magical legends she has forsaken, Elanna is forced to reckon with her despised, estranged father, branded a traitor long ago. Feeling a strange, deep connection to the natural world, she also must face the truth about the forces she has always denied or disdained as superstition powers that suddenly stir within her.
But an all-too-human threat is drawing near, determined to exact vengeance. Now Elanna has no choice but to lead a rebellion against the kingdom to which she once gave her allegiance. Trapped between divided loyalties, she must summon the courage to confront a destiny that could tear her apart.
My Review
By far my favorite thing about this book is the rich imagery of the setting and the complex politics driving the story. The writing is excellent and the characters so easy to fall in love with.
That said, sometimes I did feel like, though the politics were really intriguing, sometimes the explanations went on a little long. It also gave the story much more of an adult fiction feel than a young adult feel, because while Elanna is caught up in finding her place among her people—adopted or biological—much of the story has to do with the political ramifications of her alliances and actions. The romantic relationship in the story also had more of an adult relationship feel to me than a teen relationship in the way the characters related to one another and how Elanna thought of her love.
Those things didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the book, though they might make it less appealing to young readers. Hard to say. If you liked Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword or Leah Cypess’s Nightspell, you may want to snap up a copy of The Waking Land.
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Cultural Elements
Elanna and her people have kind of a Scottish feel to them. Jahan is described as having dark curly hair and olive skin.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Sensual kissing between a young man and woman in her bedroom in one scene. Explicit sex in another scene. Other scenes include brief kissing. In more than one scene, Elanna is dressed only in an undergarment (though usually not for sexual reasons.)
Spiritual Content
Elanna has a magical connection with plants and the land. Ghosts of her ancestors visit and aid her in part of her journey. She briefly reflects on the difference between the gods worshipped in her adopted country versus the gods of her true homeland. She participates in a blood ritual several times as a part of trying to find her place among her people. She learns of another ritual, a legend in which a woman was said to “wed the land.” She participates in a celebration during which she and other participants become sexually aroused (they’re clothed and dancing around a fire.) She also learns of other mystic countrymen who travel large distances by walking “folds” of the land, which enable them to sort of jump from one place to another, skipping over the terrain between the two places.
Jahan and Elanna use magic to fight their enemies and rescue allies.
Violent Content
A poisoned mushroom kills the king, and his daughter plans to execute Elanna for his death. Several scenes include bloody clashes between soldiers of two groups. In at least one scene, soldiers attack young boys, gravely wounding one. Some battles prove fatal.
Drug Content
A poisoned mushroom kills a man. Brief references to alcohol. At one point, the prince becomes drunk and embarrasses himself with rude behavior.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Review of The Waking Land by Callie Bates
Jul
05
2017
The Waking Land
by Callie Bates
400pp (Hardcover)
My Rating: 5/10
Amazon Rating: 3.9/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.11/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.6/5
The Waking Land, Callie Bates’ debut novel, is the first book in a new epic fantasy trilogy featuring a heroine with conflicting loyalties and the power to wake the land like her ancestors of old, an ability last possessed two hundred years ago. Though I can understand why this new release is often compared to Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale due to its wild magic and the heroine’s connection with nature, it’s not a comparison I would make: The Waking Land does not have the same fairy tale quality as either of these, and in my opinion, it falls far short of both these novels.
When Elanna was five years old, the royal guard barged into her nursery, murdered her nurse, and brought her to the adults’ interrupted dinner party, where she witnessed King Antoine pointing a gun at her father, the Duke of Caeris. The king then placed the weapon against Elanna’s head and accused her father of betraying the crown but, since there was a lack of concrete evidence of wrongdoing, he also declared he would be merciful. Instead of having the duke tried and executed, he took his frightened young daughter as a hostage, promising to treat her well—that is, as long as her father remains loyal to king and country, of course.
Fourteen years later, Elanna has come to love King Antoine like a father and feels that she may even have a stronger relationship with him than his own daughter. She’s grateful that he rescued her from life in the unrefined backwater in which she was born and enabled her to be raised in civilization with a proper education, especially since he’s encouraged her desire to study botany. Since she was a child, Elanna has been able to make plants grow simply by touching them and awaken specters from the stones simply by dropping her blood upon them, though she hides these abilities and immerses herself in science instead as witchcraft is strictly forbidden. However, once a year she allows herself to sneak away from the palace to visit an old circle of stones, where she spills her blood and witnesses its power to conjure apparitions.
After Elanna returns from her latest annual trip to the stones, she goes to the greenhouse but finds it odd that she can’t find her mentor or the deadly mushroom she’s observing as part of her studies. She soon receives news that the king has been poisoned, and her teacher has been taken prisoner due to his knowledge in this area—but when the king dies, suspicion falls on Elanna, forcing her to flee her home.
Though she’s soon found by her father’s people, Elanna doesn’t trust Caerisians or the family she’s not heard from since the night she was taken hostage, nor does she want to become a pawn in her father’s revolution. Yet if Caeris is to gain its freedom, its only hope may be Elanna and her power of waking the land.
The Waking Land had potential to be a captivating novel, and I appreciated that the author added an unusual spin to the story through Elanna’s characterization. Despite a strong opening, I did find myself considering leaving the book unfinished a few times during the first fifteen percent due to the first person present tense narration and the main character herself, but it soon became difficult to put down. Unfortunately, I found myself rushing through the last quarter in order to finish it and move on to the next book, and I ended up feeling that it failed to deliver a novel that was worth the time spent reading it. Though the history and lore of the world stand out to an extent, it incorporated a lot of common fantasy tropes with forbidden magic, old magic reappearing, and revolution, and there was not much that I found memorable besides Elanna’s internal conflict.
At first, Elanna seemed fickle since one moment she’d be sneaking away to do magic and the next she’d be reflecting on magic as evil and unsophisticated. However, it seems as though she’s trying to convince herself this is what she believes because it’s much easier to survive in a country rife with witch hunters if she stifles that side of herself. Even aside from that, it seems as though it would be difficult for her to shake these ideas: she was taken from her home when she was only five years old, and she’s grown up hearing this and knowing that there are severe consequences for witchcraft. She has few memories of her own family, and she’s forgiven King Antoine for holding a gun to her head when she was young since it was a political move that saved the country, and he’s been nothing but kind to her since that day—plus she feels abandoned by her parents since they never rescued her or contacted her, and I suspect that also made it easier for her to replace them with the king who threatened her as a child. Furthermore, she’s struggling with guilt over a mistake innocently made when she was too young to understand what she did. Her feelings and life are quite complicated, and I thought this added some interesting dimension to her character. She didn’t always make the best decisions, but I could understand the fears and psychology that drove her to behave as she did.
The aspects of the novel that are not focused on the complexities of Elanna’s mindset were not as compelling, though, and other than that, The Waking Land is a rather average book at best. Elanna is recklessly brave and compassionate in a way that is familiar for main protagonists, and her narrative voice is not particularly engaging, even irritating at times because of being told in first person present tense. It also seems as though the people around her think far more highly of her than she deserves (unless they are antagonists, of course), citing that she may have some ability to be persuasive because she is ‘charming and well spoken.’ In no way did I feel she proved herself to be either of these, and it’s not possible they saw another side of her not shown to readers: those suggesting she possessed these qualities had either just met her or become reacquainted with her for the first time since she was taken hostage.
Most of the other characters are not terribly compelling either, and if they are, it’s mainly because they have mysterious motivations or secrets rather than because they possess depth and personality. There is a romance between Elanna and one of these characters, and though it’s understandable why the two would be drawn to each other given some similarities between them, it also seems too quickly developed given the amount of time they spend together and their interactions. Despite some commonalities, their romance seems to primarily be based on physical attraction, which certainly isn’t unrealistic but also doesn’t make a relationship interesting to read about.
Though The Waking Land does have some positive qualities—a strong beginning, a deeply and understandably conflicted heroine—and was even a page-turner at times, it didn’t manage to hold my attention all the way to the end. It grew into a more standard, predictable tale, and even the epic finale fell flat for me because I didn’t find the characters, prose, or world fascinating enough to make up for this.
My Rating: 5/10